SPECIAL SESSION

THIELEN RIGHT CHOICE TO HEAD LAND DEPARTMENT

The Senate will vote soon on an issue of vital importance to the State of Hawai'i and the future of our 'aina.

The vote is whether or not to confirm Laura Thielen as chairperson of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

I first met Laura about eight years ago when our daughters attended the same public school. Since then, we have worked together on many community projects.

I know she is intelligent, compassionate and a problem-solver. Of even greater importance, she truly cares about Hawai'i's fragile environment. She is the right person to head DLNR.

It is vital that we properly manage and care for our beaches, forests and conservation areas for this generation and many generations to come.

I believe that Laura Thielen can lead the agency and make the decisions that are needed to make this happen.

COURT OF APPEALS

CONTINUED DISPARITY IN JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS

It saddens me to see that Gov. Linda Lingle has nominated Judge Randal Lee to the Intermediate Court of Appeals. Judge Lee has been a judge for less than two years.

There were two other Circuit Court judges who had served the state for more than 10 years and who are female.

Judge Sabrina McKenna and Judge Frances Wong are both distinguished jurists who are very qualified for the Intermediate Court of Appeals and would enhance the appellate court's reputation.

A few years ago, I wrote a letter to the editor complaining that women were not being selected and retained as judges. The nomination of Judge Lee is yet another example of continuing disparity of appointing qualified women to the appellate courts.

Equal justice is passed over again.

SUPERFERRY

ARE WE REWRITING LAWS FOR CORPORATE INTEREST?

I say more power to our alleged public servants in the Legislature and governor's office.

They seem to be leading the way for Hawai'i companies into the future — ushering in a time when all our environmental laws will be unabashedly rewritten by corporate special interests.

Perhaps they could extend the session another week and invite developers to openly take over the planning functions of our government. While they're at it, why not just subcontract out education by hiring private, for-profit companies to take over public schools?

With this kind of thinking, the legislators could actually be done with their business by Christmas and then use all of 2008 to raise money from the very companies they are benefitting at the people's expense!

KAUA'I NATIVE WANTS TO RETURN ON SUPERFERRY

It saddens me to see and hear the "unruly, no-class" protesters when the Superferry attempted to dock at Nawiliwili Harbor and at the governor's meeting.

It is pretty obvious that most of them are malihini, thus the lack of the aloha spirit.

I am a Hawaiian with more than 50 percent blood quantum. I was born and raised on Kaua'i and have 'ohana there.

My family wanted to travel on the Superferry for the experience, drive off with our own vehicle and stay at a hotel. So what is wrong with that?

We have been going to Kaua'i often, and the only difference now would be using our own vehicle. I cannot comprehend kama'aina telling their 'ohana not to use the Superferry to visit Kaua'i or Maui. Auwe!

WHY DOES MINORITY HAVE SUCH INFLUENCE?

Last time we checked, our government was still supposed to be a democracy. Why is it then that the state has allowed a vocal minority of Hawai'i residents to wield such a powerful influence over the fate of the Superferry?

All these delays will surely drive the ferry somewhere else. Whereupon all the taxpayers in the state will have to pay the costs for a service we won't be able to use. This is unconscionable.

HOPES USELESS EIS DOESN'T KILL OFF FERRY

Since 1969, environmental impact statements have been declared necessary whenever there is chance that a project might seriously impact the environment. This condition has delayed most projects, politically defeated some projects and continues to make some companies who write the environmental impact statements rich. All environmental impact statements are expensive and time consuming.

An EIS has four conditions: 1) designation, purpose and need of a project, 2) statement of how the environment will be affected, 3) listing of possible alternatives and mitigating circumstances that will lessen that impact and 4) an analysis of each alternative.

Essentially, an EIS does not solve or resolve any problems — merely requires that the prospective impacts be understood and disclosed in advance. And, it does not prohibit the government or its licensees/permittees from harming the environment.

An EIS does create a wealth of information (or ammunition or political fodder) that could be used to defeat or hinder any project, no matter how worthwhile. Some consider an EIS to be an exercise in futility.

I hope that the worthwhile Superferry doesn't die because of a useless EIS.

PROPOSED EXEMPTION SETS TERRIBLE PRECEDENT

I oppose a special legislative exemption allowing a group of investors to evade the laws of the state.

The administration's draft law would make a mockery of the environmental review process.

If the Superferry is allowed to operate before an environmental review is completed, it will not be realistic to rule that it should cease operating if the review finds real detriments. The damage will be done.

The function of an environmental review is to allow the decision-makers to have all of the facts before making a decision, not after.

An after-the-fact review would waste millions of dollars of public money for an environmental impact statement that will have no impact or function.

The proposed exemption law would result in one law for the rich and powerful and one law for everyone else. The creation of a special exemption from state law is a very divisive issue, and it sets a horrible precedent.

The law must apply equally to the rich and the poor; the weak and the powerful.

Consistent and predictable laws are good for business; "special exemptions" are not. Many good Americans have died to preserve and protect the ideal of equal justice under the law.

ISLES CAN'T WASTE JOBS OR MONEY INVESTED

Kaua'i and Maui environmentalists keep talking like the Superferry is other people's money. It isn't. It's $40 million of our money — enough to build a school — and 309 jobs.

The potential economic impact is about 500 jobs, plus the tourism boost. It will cost a few million more of our money just to tear down what has been built.

Hawai'i doesn't have too many jobs, or millions of dollars to waste.

Let's move forward on Superferry and not cripple the ship with discriminatory restrictions.

EDUCATION

TEACHERS' WORKLOADS SHOULDN'T BE INCREASED

The faculty of Kalaheo High School is voting whether or not to increase the amount of classes students will be mandated to carry during the school year.

Due to the uptick in credits needed to graduate from a high school in Hawai'i from 22 to 24, the usual load of six classes per year leaves no wiggle room for those students who do not pass all of their classes.

Meanwhile, because the Board of Education reduced summer breaks from 10 weeks down to seven weeks, a plethora of summer school opportunities have simply vanished.

Despite the increasing availability of "credit recovery" opportunities through the Internet, Hawai'i high school teachers are told we must increase our workload by teaching more classes per year, enabling, essentially, our students' rights to fail our courses.

I accept that teachers have been historically underpaid, undervalued and overworked.

Despite the jumble of increasingly knotty problems within my chosen profession and despite the many Advils I ingest each year, I love teaching and I appreciate the creativity and energy I must bring to virtually every minute of my school day.

However, I believe it is wrong to give to "the children" the entirety of myself. I feel that Hawai'i's public schools, at every level, must stop dumping responsibilities into the laps of the state's increasingly weary teachers.

Kalaheo's teachers must vote against an increased workload. We must send a message to our school and our state: Enough is enough.